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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29661954">Couple</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Anugshirin/pseuds/Anugshirin'>Anugshirin</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Jack/Ianto snippets [3]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Torchwood</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Character Study, M/M, kind of</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-02-23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-02-23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-15 22:47:52</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>351</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29661954</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Anugshirin/pseuds/Anugshirin</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Jack hates the word couple. He has his reasons though.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Jack Harkness/Ianto Jones</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Jack/Ianto snippets [3]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/2179701</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>17</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Couple</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Jack hated the word couple with abandon, but he had his reasons for that. It wasn’t as if he didn’t want to admit to himself or his lover that their relationship was that. A Relationship. Capital R as in something serious. Dates and sleeping together even without the sex serious. Cuddles and kisses and tender moments serious. Meeting Rhiannon and talking about Alice and Steven serious.<br/>
Jack loved Ianto. Simple as that, even if the words wouldn’t leave his lips, he couldn’t; it would make his lover’s inevitable death so much harder to bear; he didn’t think that he could survive it if he ever spoke the words.<br/>
But that was beside the point. The point was Jack hated the word couple because it wasn’t meaningful enough. Couple was not a term people used in his time, at least not in a friendly way. In the 51st century, it was used for a meaningless fling, not two people who loved each other.<br/>
Even today, it was used for mundane things like describing a time frame or a group of people not necessarily exclusively together. So the word didn’t fit them, not in his mind.<br/>
The immortal did not want to hurt Ianto’s feelings when he shot that idea down rather quickly without the time to explain. He never wanted to see the pain in his boyfriend’s eyes again.<br/>
Boyfriend was another term he didn’t quite like. It made it sound like a crush, a thing that teenagers used. They were adults, for heaven’s sake!<br/>
Maybe it was because he came from a different time, but even the word partner didn’t sound right. John and him had been partners in the time agency even before they were stuck in that horrible time loop. It was more of a work-related thing than anything he wanted to call a lover. </p>
<p>Jack preferred terms like beloved, darling, or dearest.<br/>
These meant something. The words themselves carry meaning, to hold someone dear, to love someone with all your heart. Even Ianto’s use of Cariad was more accurate to them than the word couple could ever mean.</p>
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